At Christ Church and Holy Trinity Schools we are committed to investing time and resources into an effective and broad experience of physical education curriculum for our children. We believe that physical education is vital and unique in its contribution to a child’s physical and emotional development and health.
Physical Education is led by Mr Henwood and Ajani Adrien who teaches all classes most of the P.E. curriculum as well as leading after school P.E. clubs. We have other visiting tutors who teach the children in areas such as rugby, tennis and swimming.
There is a balance of individual, team, co-operative and competitive activities to cater for individual pupil’s needs and abilities. The scheme of work is based on progressive learning objectives which, combined with varied and flexible teaching styles, endeavor to provide appropriate, stimulating, challenging and enjoyable learning situations for all pupils.
The curriculum and opportunities in the school aims to take account of the huge range of ability we have. There are many children who are gifted and talented in one or more areas of sport while other children have very significant co-ordination difficulties or physical impairments that mean they need specialised support to access the P.E. curriculum.
Our core aims are:
- For pupils to have self-confidence through an ability to manage themselves successfully in a variety of situations.
- To develop an ability to remember, adapt and apply knowledge, practical skills and concepts in a variety of movement based activities.
- To promote positive attitudes towards health, hygiene and fitness.
- To foster an appreciation of safe practice.
- To develop psycho-motor skills through a range of relevant movement based activities.
- To develop a sense of fair play and sportsmanship.
- To develop communication skills, encouraging the use of correct terminology, to promote effective co-operation.
- To foster an enjoyment, and positive attitude, to the subject in school.
- To give children opportunities to develop personal characteristics like initiative, self-reliance and self discipline. (Self knowledge).
- Be given opportunities to enjoy and succeed in the subject as well as be stimulated and challenged. (Problem solving)
We are lucky enough to have good facilities for the teaching of PE. We have “The Pen” in the playground where children can engage in team games and practising skill activities; we have the use of the Battersea Park and Marlborough School for classes to have a large space to use for team games and physical exercise and we are a short walk from the Chelsea Sports Centre where all classes from have a chance to swim for a term for every week of the year.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea organise many inter school competitions and opportunities throughout the school year from athletics to team sports and swimming. Christ Church always engages in all of these opportunities which gives a real chance for more able children to participate in competitive games.
Children engage in cross age group team games and practise in their lunch play, if they choose, on a daily basis. There are a range of resources available during all playtimes for children to use to practise their ball skills, general co-ordination and control.
If you would like more information on the P.E. curriculum for each year groups see the classes curriculum maps.
Playing
At Christ Church we are committed to children having plenty of opportunities to play and learn through play. We encourage children to play at all ends of the school, not just in the early years.
The relationship between play and learning seems obvious to many and yet there are still prejudices surrounding the importance of children’s play: some people believe that children need to “work” not play and that playing serves no useful purpose in a learning and development environment. This is surprising considering that play, with its high levels of motivation and potential enjoyment empowers children as follows:
- children approach tasks readily and willingly
- children are open and responsive to the learning within the play activity
- children are willing to “try” and feel that they can “have a go” without fear of failure
- children learn easily from their peers, working as an effective group
- children establish constructive and positive relationships with those involved
- children explore and find out at a level that suits them
- children can negotiate their own response to the learning situation within the play activity
- children sustain high levels of focus and interest
- children are able to offer their own input into the activity, feeling involved and listened to
One of the greatest attributes of play is the opportunities it affords for learning to live with not knowing: we all learn more effectively through trial and error and play is a non-threatening way to cope with new learning and still retain self-esteem and self-image.
We try hard to use opportunities for play in learning and the curriculum right through the school. The role of the adult in supporting children’s learning and development through the use of play is one of proactivity and interaction. Adults have the power to make a major difference to children’s lives and their development by what they offer children and by how they behave towards them. Adults can offer support, “scaffolding”, for the child’s learning and development: the adult provides a structure or series of steps for the child to explore a new experience successfully and add to his/her initial learning. The key for the adult is to know how to provide steps which are small enough for the child to gain success,but challenging enough to motivate and take the child’s learning forward.
Playtimes are also carefully organised so that children have maximum opportunities to explore relationships and ways of working together harmoniously as well communicate their thoughts and feelings with each other effectively.
Our playtimes are very structured and organised to maximise children’s opportunities to interact with others successfully. We offer a range of organised and free activities at playtime and the playground is very well staffed. Staff are trained in supporting children in constructive play activities and help children enter games if they are ever feeling on the edge of play. Our PE teacher Mr Henwood leads a range of organised games for Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children to join in with if they wish. There is always a Senior Leader on play duty so that these times of day go smoothly and any difficulties are quickly and effectively dealt with.
The School Parliament children each term are also trained to be friendship prefects who help children if they are in need of help for any reason.
We take health and safety very seriously and have three trained first aiders. The playground area offers opportunities to challenge themselves through climbing activities with the minimum of risk.
We have an excellent playground area that is across the road in Caver sham Street, just across from the main school building. The space consists of a team game and sport’s area, a garden area for free play and table top activities and climbing equipment for children to develop their gross motor skills and co-ordination. Children often like to spend time looking in our pond or watching our school chickens during their playtime.
Being at school is a really important opportunity for children to learn about our relationships with others,our peers, our elders and our youngster’s. Having a sense of belonging and of being accepted for who we are is vital to children feeling safe, secure and ultimately happy.
Learning about how we treat people, what we should expect from others and exploring how other’s behaviours makes us feel are all really important learning experiences.
At Christ Church we invest time to discuss what friendship is. Children explore and practice, supporting others and being supported by others. Children are given lots of opportunities to appreciate others achievements and strengths, be they academic or social. They are encouraged to articulate their feelings to others clearly and practice expressing themselves in ways that are appropriate and not confrontational.
Learning to be a good friend and co-operative classmate, group member or partner is hard and will involve lots of learning and indeed lots of mistakes. We positively reinforce in our children the importance of forgiveness when people get things wrong and expect children to make mistakes. Children are always given opportunities to make things right with another classmate, friend or adult and then move on.
“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
Albert Camus
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
Marcel Proust
Rewards for good learning and friendship
Golden Time is a crucial part of our behaviour management strategy. The idea has been adapted originally from the Jenni Mosley Golden Time ideas book.
Children receive Golden Time for approximately 20-30 minutes in all classes at some point of the week, normally a Friday. It is a reward for good learning and friendship behaviour. Some Golden Time can be lost if children after being warned choose to do the wrong thing
All children begin each week with all of their Golden Time ahead of them. Golden Time is planned alongside the children and is varied and exciting in the activities that are provided so that missing minutes from Golden Time actually means something
Sometimes Golden Time is inside, sometimes outside; sometimes it is shared with other classes; it is always lots of fun.